My Summer Internship at CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA

I got an opportunity to learn and work at Central Bank of India, a hundred year old public sector bank as an intern for the Summer Internship Programme. It started on 1st April, 2014 with me reporting at the Regional Office, Bhubaneswar along with two of my batchmates. We were guided to go to the conference hall to attend the prayer session, customary to the Bank. Since it was Utkal Divas (a day celebrated to commemorate the formation of the state Odisha as a separate province), the Bankers celebrated it by singing the Utkal Sangeet (‘Vande Utkal Janani’) followed by a speech by the Regional Manager. Then the Manager welcomed all of us and asked for a brief introduction of ourselves.

Post prayer, all the interns were assigned a topic for the project after inquiring about their interest area. I got to work on the credit appraisal system. Hence, my topic was decided as “A Study on Credit Appraisal Methodology for MSME and NPA Management”. We were also assigned the departmental managers as our project guides as per our topics. I had a detailed interaction with my guide who gave me some idea as to how to go about the project.

I was lucky to have got the opportunity to work at the Regional Office. It had all the case files from different branches. I could study and analyse a few of them. The guidance and co-operation that I got from my industry guide was commendable. He gave me insights to some of the concepts specific to the Banking Industry and also offered a platform to practically implement those. I was also directly involved in the appraisal process of a couple of loans and in the preparation of the memorandum/process notes of few of the proposals. It was a great learning experience for me.

I could also interact with two of the Deputy Managers and the Regional Manager who were equally supportive and regularly discussed about my progress in the project. They were always available to clarify my doubts. I could also seek the help and guidance of other staff members as and when required for the completion of my project.

We, as interns also gave some recommendations as to how the bank could increase its customer base and were appreciated for the same. The Regional Manager went through the recommendations and was willing to implement some at their Bank. The same were also sent to the higher authorities at their Central Office.  We studied different types of deposit schemes available at Central bank of India and also assisted the bank in opening of several new accounts.

I was also a part of the camp that was organized by the bank at ITER regarding financing of education of students through Education Loans. We could generate around sixty leads for the bank at the camp and were appreciated for the same.

Learning is an ongoing process and I treasure all that which trickled down to me from the industry experts in those two months of my internship and would put them to good use as and when required. Being a fresher this enriching experience of working in an organization as big as Central Bank of India and being able to complete a project in finance (the area of my interest) successfully, would surely boost my level of confidence and add on to my knowledge of banking.